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Friday, November 30, 2007

This is a real joke seriously what is going in Syria currently , that makes me thank God thousand times that I live in Egypt despite all what the regime does from fighting the naughty bloggers who are exposing its scandals national and world wide

As you may have known in the last two weeks the Syrian regime has blocked several web services and hundreds of Websites and blogs

The most famous web services that were blocked in Syria are the following :

Google earth"May be for security reasons , but Israel too complained and yet it did not block nor Google changed the maps and surely the Americans and Israelis won't depend upon Google earth , it is blocked so the people will not know where are the palaces and mansions of Al-Assad dynasty !! "

The Websites and blogs that are blocked currently are of course for the opposition and forums ,lately the Kurdish and PK supporting Websites joined them "For the Turkish friends of course"

Today I found out that another two Web services are blocked recently are there "

Now why on earth they block Amazon.com !!?? I mean what is the harm from a website that sells books and other stuff online ?? Because it contains books that are considered against the regime !!

Ok a smart question : How many Syrians buy from the Amazon inside Syria ??

I do not want to hint that the Syrians more and more are heading towards wordpress self hosting despite the fact that some web hosting companies do not welcome to hosts Syrian or Iranian Websites . Of course not to mention the Typepad blogging services . They are very smart in the Syrian intelligence as it is the party that follows the Internet , they know very well that inside Syria most Syrians go to blogger.com due to the fact it is free and much easier where as Typepad is used mostly by Syrians who live abroad , not to mention that the Syrian Envoy to the States got a blog there , oh yes but to my surprise I speak more about the politics of his country in my blog more him in his blog , his blog is all about Syrian painters and his travel with his family around the globe !!!

I wonder what website they would block next in Syria ??

by the way I won't post petitions and stuff because they do not care about them

Ah I know what they will block next , the petition sites !!!

For their eyes only to the Syrian intelligence service men who watch the net here is my favourite book in Amazon ;P

Thursday, November 29, 2007

There are three Michaels in Lebanon currently so near to become the next president for the troubled state ,two of them are actually nearer from one to the Presidential palace

The three Michaels are :

Michel Soliman , the current commander of the Lebanese army

Michel Eddé ,the former Minister

Michel Aoun , the famous politician, former commander of Lebanese army

I will start with Michael Eddé , the oldest one of them

Michel Eddé has a powerful position in Lebanon due to the fact he was chosen surprisingly by Pope Sfir , the head of the Lebanese Maronite Church , as a moderate face all parties could accept him ,of course the only party accepted him were the Shiite parties presented in Nabieh Barry and Hezbollah. Of course the 14th of March refused him and some are saying that also Michael Oun also does not accept him , well surely it is obvious why; Oun wants it to himself , despite that Eddé lost in year 1989 his Syrian allies when he insisted that the Syrians should search for another solution than force to get rid from Oun ,the thing that costed him the chair of Presidency then

It was not the first he lost in it the presidency , he was going to be the president already in year 1982 yet the Israeli invasion to Beirut destroyed the opportunity . And that' was just another reason to make the Maronite hate the Israelis forever , already the man entered the political arena through his hate to Israel and Zionism and his support to the Palestinian cause since his youth

Eddé was born on the 16th of February 1928 , an Aquarius Maronite whom was raised in a conservative environment yet was impressed by Karl Marx to the degree that the media used to call him the "red Maronite"

The red Maronite was graduated from the law school in the Université Saint-Joseph, his class included late Lebanese presidents René Moawad and Elias Sarkis . His political life began as a student in 1947 when he participated in the protests against the Jewish state since that day he became a passionate about the Palestinian cause that turned him in to an expert and a historian for the Zionist movement exposing all the historical lies about Israel ,the man wrote several books about Israel history in the past and the present and you only have to know one of the titles of his books is "The temple of Herod or the temple of Solomon" , well for sure he is in the anti-Semites list and surely that another reason why America and Israel do no want him to be the president of Lebanon

Eddé was chosen as a minister for 5 times from years 1966 to 1996 in different cabinets , he refused to run for the parliament because he wanted to keep his independence.

Eddé was accused in the past decades to be from the supporters of Syria and Lahoud,yet from knowing his position from the Oun problem and also his welcome from the Syrian departure from Lebanon , I would Say that this accusation is not always true. Already he seems to put Lebanon first according to what he believes politically , Eddé believes in Pan Arabism , he is from that old school

He is married from a woman called Paula and he got from her 4 sons and a daughter. Already as it is the common in Lebanon , He comes from a political family. He currently own a publishing house "Société Générale de Presse et d'Édition" since year 1990 which publishes the third successful French daily newspaper in Lebanon " L'orient-le jour"

Yet I will say what I think about him Aoun is a dangerous kind of politicians , he wants to be the president by any possible way , he changes his political accordingly

Michel Aoun went to the American Congress in 2004 and testified against Syria then after the Syrian forces departure from Lebanon the man changed his political view 180 degrees and made alliance with the Pro-Syrian famous parties and leaders he used to call them names , the man justifies the change in his position to the fact that there is no need to become an enemy to Syria as long as they had withdrawn , of course he got a point

During the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, he shake hands with the Israelis and in 2006 his MPs in the Lebanese parliament questioned how dare the Lebanese defence minister gave his order to welcome the Israeli soldiers in one of the southern village in that famous incident known as the tea party , of course I do not respect Aoun in 1982 nor Ahmed Fatafat Pasha in year 2006

Of course he made a strategic alliance with Hezbollah , creating a powerful Christian-Shiite alliance , despite the claims from the 14th of March that his influence in the Christian sect is decreasing , well this is what they wish for , anyhow his free patriotic movement is not playing in Lebanon for sure , by the way the official website for the movement till now is blocked in Syria till now

Aoun during the civil war while being a commander to the army fought almost all those war princes in the 14th of March and may be the man changes his political view yet he does not forget that and they do not forget that ,they hate the general so much and this is what I like about him

Already regardless of what he done in his exile the man since the return to Beirut gave great suggestions to save the country but no one wanted to listen

His relations with Hezbollah I guess is what actually makes the United States and France do not want him , this understanding sheet he demands all coming presidents to stick with it

Aoun is well known to his nervous behaviour ,already I can't forget how nervous he became when he came and his grand children started to cry because of the journalists , he simply yelled at the journalists!!

Anyhow good luck to Aoun ,as he will have to wait more and more to become a president and who knows !!?? May be in the end he will become the president one day

To the third Michel of them and the luckiest one of all ,as he seems to be so close to the Presidential palace more than ever .

The new comer General Michel Soliman , the commander of the Lebanese army

This man came to the spot light during the Nahr El-Bard river camp military camp ,as he orchastered the whole thing in a way that impressed the different parties

Michel Soliman is another moderate excellent solution as the man did not work in the political arena before , got no enemies or friends ,got no past experiences with those and these

Soliman was born on 21th of January 1948 "I can't believe two Aquarius men in the list !!" He is currently 59 years old ,married and got three children

His resume includes the following after graduation from the war school in 1971 :

In 1973 ,he headed the intelligence sector in Mount Lebanon "and do not ask me how in less than two years ,because the intelligence in Lebanon is quite different than ours"

In 1979, he became Secretariat-General in the army Headquarter

In 1991, he became Colonel of Staff and appointed as the Commandment of the Mount Lebanon region

In 1996 , he was promoted to the rank of General of staff and was appointed as the commander of the 6th infantry brigade

In 1998, he was promoted to the rank of General, and was appointed as the Armed Forces Commander as a successor to Emile Lahoud

Believe or not Soliman is our Egyptian bet in this Lebanese race,oh yes Egypt is trying to get back to Lebanon after a long time of absence and after Saudi Arabia became the first Arab country in Lebanon.

Egypt is trying by all suitable to regain its positions already this is from Gamal Mubarak moves to win more acceptances from the people , it is not bad move . First of all they changed the Ambassador ,second they began to be involved more and more , yes they are more closer to the 14th of March but not so close like Saudi

Egypt prefers him because he is a military man and it is easy for us to deal with the military man

Egypt prefers him because he is not from the 14th of March group whom are more controlled by Saudi Arabia

Now Soliman must be thankful for this support because it turned out the Egyptian role is not completely dead , Egypt made Saudi Arabia accept the man and the KSA used its magic with its partners the 14th of March ,believe or not the 14th of March now is welcoming the general to become the next president

Just after one session between the Saudi Ambassador and Samir Geagea !!

Yet this does not mean that he is a pro-American man because Nabieh Barry and those behind from Hezbollah welcomed him since day one , also Michel Aoun ,after all his military man who should have worked under his command

By the way as far as I know the Lebanese file in Egypt is from the reasonability of General Omar Soliman

{1} Abdo Moshatak is an Egyptian comic cartoon character that was created by Ahmed Ragab and Mustafa Hussein in Al-Akhabr Newspaper , the person who will die and get an official position whether a president or a prime minister ,he is always waiting , he became a part of our Egyptian vocabulary to describe this kind of personality

The Egyptian newspaper in the last two weeks has nothing to speak about except the wedding of the year Ahmed Ezz and Shahinaz El-Nagger in a very stupid way

I swear till now newspapers are speaking about it

Ahmed Ezz is not the handsome Ahmed Ezz the Cinema Star but he is the short Ahmed Ezz the NDP Star and Shahinaz El-Nagger is the doll of the NDP and current Egyptian Parliament

Ezz as some of you know is the right hand of Gamal Mubarak and best friend. The Business man sorry the tycoon who monopolized the Iron and steel industry in Egypt causing a huge problem. He is the head of the new guards in the NDP who are having a huge silent war with the old guards and men of Mubarak the father in the party. Ahmed Ezz's fortune is estimated as 40 billion Egyptian pounds , from where he started ,well unknown , but I know very well his family roots and what his father used to work and I can say that this fortune was not from inheritance. Ezz was born in January 1959 still he is not an Aquarius for sure as Aquarius men are not that mean or wicked. Before marrying Shahinaz he was and is still marrying two other women , including the daughter of Al-Ashraf syndication head who is very angry from what he did that he did not include his name in his mother obituary last week . There was a rumour in the past saying that he married Mervat Amin for some time !!

This man is so hated now in Egypt especially on the political and economic levels ,many people consider him as evil as Chucky including me and Talaat and Anwar El-Sadaat JR the MPs and the Nephews of late President Sadaat ,just like Chucky who feels funny in killing people this man feel funny in killing the Egyptian political and economic life:(

Shahinaz El-Nagger , one of the surprises of the parliament elections of 2005 ,entering the Egyptian Parliament as the youngest female MP as she was born on 9th of October 1969 . It was not only her young age but her looks too , well she is not the prettiest girl in town but comparing her with the few other women MP she will get the trophy , already I noticed that NDP men in the parliament used to like to sit beside her !! this beauty notice was only the remark that the official media mentioned , the unofficial media from independent and opposition newspaper noticed other thing more important than her gender , her age or her beauty , it was her fortune. Dr. Shahinaz El-Nagger who has a PHD in Psychology surprised everyone when she run for the parliament election as an independent member for the Manial area which is a very hot zone in Cairo for the first time spending more than 14 million E.P in her campaign that the state security called her to ask about the source of this money

It is well known that Shahinaz belongs to a wealthy family that works in tourism ,they own a 4 stars hotel in busy street Gamat El-Doul Al-Arabia named "El-Nabila" {after her mother's name } with a couple of Nile cruisers ,but here we are not talking about an Egyptian Paris Hilton , the heiress of Hilton Empire , hell no , there were and are questions regarding from what sources this money came ,just like Ezz

Shahinaz was married twice and divorced before marrying Chucky and she has a daughter by the way her elder brother who suddenly disappeared married Nahla Salama the famous Cult films actress for couple of months ----- A side info

Now Right after the blessed NDP convention last month which I forgot to speak about , may be it is not late ,the independent newspapers suddenly in one day came out speaking about the secret Marriage between Ahmed Ezz and Shahinaz El-Nagger and it became the talk of the town till now

It was at first secret marriage I mean close people to them said that they intended to keep it as a secret but someone from the old mean guards in the NDP leaked the info ,all the juicy info to his old friends in the press , this someone is no other than "Safwat El-Sherif"

But even if "El-Sherif" is innocent from this guilt as the innocent wolf from the blood of Jacob's son the juicy details of the marriage made it the number one talk of the town not to mention its consequences.

First the location , it turned out those two love birds tied the knock in Switzerland.

Second the dowry of the bride , Ezz paid 25 Egyptian million pounds to Shahinaz giving her the highest dowry of a bride in modern Egypt , well she got a competitor in the middle ages , the famous Katr El-Nada the grand daughter of Ahmed Ibn Tulun who married the AbbasidAl-Mu'tadid Caliph ,the only difference Katr El-Nada insisted that her dowry to be a huge fortune to be paid to save Egypt from hunger , oh yes Katr El-Nada ,the 12 years old girl made this choice to save her own people and the Egyptians rewarded her by turning her name to a beautiful song till now that is sang where as Shahinaz now is remembered as the bride of Ahmed Ezz !!

Third He bought to her an apartment in the luxurious four season building at Giza , more millions to be spent baby

Fourth and this is what causes all the talk now suddenly Dr.Shahinaz decided to quit the parliament oh yes she resigned from her position as MP !!!

Oh yes a blow to the feminist movement in Egypt who is calling for more seats in Parliament to the women ,a sudden resignation with no further explanation at all , already there is no law in Parliament at least ours say that one of the married couple should resign !!

It became a circus because till now Both EZZ and SHAHINAZ DID NOT ANNOUNCE THEIR MIRRAGE OFFICIALLY TILL THE MOMENT OF WRITING DOWN THESE LINES !!! It is just like J.Lo baby

Mustafa Bakery made a questioning in the parliament in order to know why the honourable MP did not listen to the first lady advice to women to run for the parliament, well she listened but then she resigned , the first lady did not order ladies not to resign!!

It even became more sillier when the Islamic group "ex-terrorists" which became timid and follows the government orders made a statement saying that they congratulated Shahinaz for quitting the job and staying in home to look after her husband and daughter !!

It became a circus

Look they get married , they get divorced ,it is not our freaking problem , we got other important stuff , do not speak about Ezz's wives , he is a Muslim man and can still marry another one but speak from where he brought all that money , what he is doing in destroying our economy and our political life

25 Million E.P in Dowry , oh boy even I.H Shahinaz Pahlavi did not have this total sum in her both marriages !!

anyhow can we just forget about the wife of Chucky and try to stop Chucky from what he is already doing !!!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Ok I missed this but it is never too late , already the verdict has just been announced from one hour only 9 PM Cairo local time after a very long session in the court that started from 9 AM till 9 PM in another Police torture case

This time it is about the police officer and two detectives who were accused of beating a man till his death in Mansoura

Without introduction in the second session of the trial the surprise verdict came in the end unexpectedly in that session with 7 years in jail for the police officer in the case , the rest of the details I do not know it yet

This is an another shy victory , already this is the maximum punishment a police officer gets in similar case from 20 years , and if you remember infamous Islam Nabieh made a record from 4 weeks ago when he took 4 years in jail ,well not anymore this follow whom I do not know his name set the record

This is good but is killing a man or beating him till his death deserves only 7 years !! at least 10 years minimum as accident murder , still it is a huge progress , a great progress

Without fancy introduction I do not put hopes on Annapolis at all , the Arabs will go there and return back with nothing simply sorry they give and return back with nothing

Seriously I do not know why 16 Arab countries are going to attend the meeting , first the main countries in the meeting that will have direct talks are : Israel and the Palestinian authority representing only half of the Palestinian territories ,as the other half is under Hamas' rule, these Arab countries agreed to stick to the Arab initiative Saudi Arabia proposed in the Beirut Arab Summit 2002, the same initiative Israel refused totally so I do not know what the rest of the Arab countries other than Syria are going to do , they have no business what so ever there , as long as the Saudis swore that they won't shake hands with Israelis at least in front of the cameras

And even Syria is going with lots of doubts that in any progress , they said that the Golan must be on the table if the Israelis want any Peace talk in the first place , well I doubt that the Israelis will put anything on the table , the Israelis do not want land for Peace , they want security for Peace ,even the talk about dividing Jerusalem an Arab section and Israel section in the end it is only talk ,they won't give one inch back from Jerusalem especially the holy Mosque to the Arabs and you know before I know why , we must stop fooling ourselves .

Lebanon is going to ,I do not how and why , already internationally Shabaa farms are recognized as part from the Syrian territories occupied in 1967 in a very big historical mistakes we the Arabs made in the first place and I would like to discuss it later , already there is a rumour that there will be no president for Lebanon till Annapolis finishes , I do not see a direct connection actually.

The Americans and Israelis think that this is just like the famous Sadaat visit to Tel Aviv from 30 years , well there is a huge difference Sadaat went there as a victorious not as a weak beggar pushed by the United States !!!

Bush administration is searching for some victory , a lonely victory to be added before he leaves the white house in 2008 , they lost hope in having victory in wars and so they are trying their luck in finding victory in Peace

Monday, November 26, 2007

Do you remember the infamous case of Siwa's torture victim ?? If you do not I recommend that you do some refreshment for your memory and click here and there than click back in your browser to this page again

This terrible human rights case is not closed yet ,in fact it is still going but for certain reason it has been away from the media

From two days ago El-Dostor newspaper announced in the last page that the Forensics' report proved the existence of torture in the body of the young man and that it really took place in the police station ,and so according to this important testimony the Police officers are guilty of torturing the young man and he was true in every word he had said

The case is still in front of the D.A but I guess with this testimony it will not be closed and it will be escalated to the court

Hopefully insh Allah the officers who tortured him will join Islam Nabieh so soon in the jail ,say Amin

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Damanhur is the capital of Beheira Governorate in Delta in Egypt , it is a famous city with a very long history yet the temples I am going to speak about are not there in fact they are not in Egypt at all ,they are in Italy ,in the foots hill of the Alps
A wonderful amazing complex of temples are made underground that used to unknown for most of the humans on the surface of this earth are considered by the Italian government as the eighth wonder of the world , it is the eighth wonder of the modern world for sure , oh yes they are not ancient temples from the Roman era dedicated to Isis and called Damanhur
Be shocked they were made in the 2nd half from the 20th century since year 1978 to year 1991 ,they were graved based upon one man's dreams or paranormal visions with the help of people around the world who believed him
It can be considered a sort of a cult still they do not worship a specific God or a prophet more the Damanhurians as they are called in Italy believe in international Peace and that humans are all equal. "Still I believe it is some sort of a cult" Regardless of what they believe in and regardless of why their leader made them they are great piece of arts that show how the man can do wonderful things
These temples from 1978 to 1991 where built in silence , the Italian government did not know their existence and when it knew it seized them under its control
I guess your so anxious and curious to see them
Well Click below on the following

The real Damanhurians by the way in Egypt are very intelligent that we got a native proverb that say "I would rather deal with 100 crock but not with a Damanhurian - ميت نورى و لا دمنهورى" by the way they are not bad , we got tons of Cairian proverbs that make fun of or attack other areas in Egypt , this nothing compared to the Monufia 's proverbs or Alexandria proverbsThe most famous Damanhurian in Egypt is Professor Ahmed Zowail

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Again and Again the discussion of the relation between the official sheikhs and the State is opened and again the State is being accused that it uses religion in order to control the people , the unfortunate true accusation sorry charge.

From couple of two weeks ago the Grand Mufti of the Egyptian State, the highest legislation based on Islam in Egypt , Ali Gomaa said another two strange controversial fatwas that made a lot of discussion and rejection in the Egyptian society ,the thing that forced to make a press conference in order to justify them and save himself from public criticism

The first Fatwa:

If a person stands deliberately in front of car ,there will be no sin or guilt in hitting the man with your car !!!

from three weeks ago, the Egyptian police did another crime by hit a woman in one of the poor neighborhoods, they were arresting one of her family members and she tried to stand against them and so the poor lady stupidly stood in front of their car and more stupidly they hit her !!

And so to clear them from the guilt they used this Fatwa

Already it is very dangerous and believe it or not when I read it I suddenly realized that it was a green card and a justification to any Anti-riot forces attack on the protesters, if you remember the famous scene during the second intifida protests in the Cairo University protesters stood in front of the anti-riots vehicles , during the invasion of Iraq ,the more famous protests where McDonald's was smashed ,Protesters burned and destroyed anti-riots vehicles

What this Fatwa does is more than announcing the innocence of Police officers ,the police officers do not need this Fatwa to clear this conscious . You see as you know the primary source of legalization in Egypt according to the second amendment in the Constitution of 1971 is the Islamic Sharia and so if you present to any Fatwa that was issued by the grand Mufti in any court in your favour ,it will consider as a law , by the way this is from the advantages of the Egyptian laws , not disadvantages , as already my family used this way to return back its right , of course the regime is using it to its case for another intentions ,well this is their own issue and problem.

Already the Fatwa is wrong Islamic point of view from the point of view with my all respect Islam prohibits us from hurting any living creature ,and what this Fatwa is calling to is hurting other people , in other words killing them and because if this man deliberately stands in front of my car I will know very well that I can hurt him with it . This is my point of view . The Fatwa is too board , on the same level a drug dealer could kill a police officer in his attempt to escape by car and says the same thing ,it is a double aged fatwa.

The Mufti came last week in a press conference and said that the press is one that making all the buzz and that Fatwa is already an old one issued from couple of years ago ,well no one published it they were the ones in the house of legalization they announced suddenly right after the woman's accident in an association with the interior ministry to defend themselves against the media and the people

The second Fatwa:

Those guys who drowned near the Italian shores are not martyrs because they were greedy

The second Fatwa which was more like a statement came as a surprise because all the people expected the Mufti to say that those young people who drowned before reaching to the European mirage that they saw as dream were martyrs according to the fact that they were seeking for their living . And so opposite to their expectation the Mufti came and said these words and I guess you can imagine the level of anger the public felt after this statement as it came when the shocking news were still coming from Rome , even before the few bodies that were found were shipped back home. It was considered as an insult to them ,to their families especially their mothers

Articles and essays opened its fire on Gomaa and surprisingly most sheikhs and clerics stood against him ,for several reasons not because of hate but because of the following and I agree ,in fact this is my own opinion about that silly statement

1- He does not own the martyrdom certificate to distribute it as he likes , this is a martyr ,this is not a martyr ,it goes back to "Allah" SWT ,it is beyond his job description

2- In that Fatwa or statement there was a generalization that all the people who seek their living outside the country are greedy, and according to a man in his religious position this would be considered a prohibition for immigration and work abroad

Stupidly the Mufti in this way is opposing a versus in the holy Quran I do not recall it now unfortunately which means that Muslims do not have to accept to be humiliated if they suffer in their country , as the land of Allah is vast , the whole world is in front of them, it is not about leaving the country when it needs but sometimes the person has to leave his own country to be safe, to earn his living

I believe the Mufti said what he said to save the dignity of the regime as the people began to speak about the reasons of why those young men leave their country and accept all the hazards till they are dead to get to the other shore and as usually we all reached to the dead end of the corrupted regime that forced Egyptians to sell their kids and kidneys

The Mufti again in the same press conference justified his Fatwa/ statement and said that it was only his personal opinion !! Personal Opinion !!?? A man in his intelligence and in his position must be careful when he says his personal opinion , especially his position because people may not differentiate between the fatwas and his personal opinion , after all he is a holy man !!!

Ironically in the same press conference he gathered a panel of clerics who considered the victims of Italian shores to be martyrs !!

The Egyptian regime is doing what all the dictatorships are doing from controlling the religious institutions in order to control the people as they want especially if those people put religion in a high position , just like the German Nazis and the German Church, the Italian Fascists and the Vatican and the Saudi Royals and the Wahbi.It is not a new thing in Egypt in fact I believe it is old as this land ,the Pharaoh of Moses is the best example

I do not know why he comes with Fatwas and does not come with Fatwas regarding Cheating in elections "Cheating is totally unacceptable in Islam" or monopoly "Ahmed Ezz's monopoly for Iron" or the rich and VIP thefts

I just remember a very nice Prophetic QUOTE for PROPHET MOHAMMAD "PBUH" WHICH SAYS:

"Allah curses the people who punish the poor when he steals and leave the rich when he steal , I swear if Fatima daughter of Mohammad "PBUH" steals ,her hand will be cut"

Prophet Mohammad "PBUH" said this when one of the rich ladies of the Arabian tribes stole something

Great words from even greater personality , Of course It is obvious what I want to say

And they wonder why people began to listen to the satellite and tapes sheikhs of unknown origins !! by origins here I mean education.

Unfortunately this Mufti Ali Gomaa is from the best clerics I have seen , this man speaks several languages ,open minded and likes rock and roll ,but what can I say about the temptations of the authority and chair !!!

I believe the grand Mufti opposition due to its importance and sensitivity should be independent just like the Judges in fact he is like the Judges as he rules in People's matter , but on a higher status due to his religious role

Ok just from few hours Emile Lahoud had to leave the presidential palace and go back home ,the Presidential Palace in Lebanon is empty ,it does not have a new occupier , there is no president in a strange situation regionally and internationally

After tonight Lebanon officially has no president at least till next week when a second round of negotiations between the so-called Majority and the opposition takes place with visits from foreign ministers from here and there till they agree on a president that makes all the parties in Lebanon happy , the different parties in Lebanon and also the international forces playing in the small tiny country that is doomed by politics

Lahoud left and some young men took the streets celebrating right now his departure not realizing that this departure will open the doors of hell on the Lebanon

Lahoud called on the Lebanese army Friday to preserve security in Lebanon.

The Spokesperson of the Lebanese presidency Rafiq Shalala made a press conference where he announced the following :

There are conditions and risks on the ground that could lead to a state of emergency over all Lebanese territory as of the 24th of November 2007 therefore, the president has entrusted the Lebanese army with security.

Yet this is not an emergency status declaration as expected ,only the army will be called to maintain order only , it is not an emergency status as we know it in our country or like in Pakistan.

This is an excellent move and it is best thing Lahoud had did ,already I was surprised by Lahoud's decision , seriously after watching his strong speech this week I thought that he would stay for another round just to drive the so-called majority to craziness if they do not agree on a man , yet the man turned to be more mature than I thought , more mature than many of the Lebanese politicians especially from the Pro-west so-called majority camp a.k.a 14th of February whom ironically consider his order as unconstitutional !! well in respectable country when there is no president in place ,the emergency status must be declared for protection !!

Now the situation in Lebanon is the following

No President

A Non constitutional government

A parliament that does not held a complete session

It is a miracle that the country and the people are living fine and safe !!

You know during this week finding a man to be president was not the opposition's problem but it is the problem of the so-called majority , the gang of Saad,Samir and Kamel . Please forget about the CNN labels of the Lebanese parties ,the pro-Syrian and the anti-Syrian , because it is no longer a Syrian sole playground there are huge forces in the game and till now those who causing the problems are the not the Pro-Syrian team

it is all about the candidates of the presidency from which the parliament should choose the president from right !!

Ok the 14th of Feb. wants the president to be from their team ,and their team only in brief

This week there were three chances to save Lebanon from this unknown destiny

The Christian Maronite Church made a wonderful list of possible 7 candidates and the KSA announced that it supported that list ,still the 14th of Feb. refused it

The Church returned again and presented the name of former Lebanese foreign minister "Michael Ada" yet again the 14th of Feb.refused him where as the opposition welcomed it

We understand that 14th of Feb. is refusing "Michael Aoun" as President but I do not understand their refusal for "Ada" at all . It is not the old age of Ada" "79 years old" that they are refusing ,it is something else. When "Ada" 's name came to light , the Church accepted it , the KSA welcomed and the opposition respected it , already it came from an opposition party as a middle solution

"Michael Ada" is a familiar face for those who watch political programs in the Arabic channels , the former foreign minister became an expert in the Lebanese affairs and the general regional affairs of course not to mention a great history teller . He is not with the 14th of March nor with the opposition despite being a regular guest in their channels due to his Pan-Arabism thoughts ,still I can't consider him with them ,he is with Lebanon. And put several lines under the following phrase "He is a huge anti-Zionist" and that's what makes him a regular guest in Hezbollah's Manar Channel "I will speak about this man later"

The 14th of Feb. after the assassination of Pierre Gameyal JR has no powerful candidate for presidency and they know this , all the names they put in the table are not that powerful.

"Michael Aoun", wants presidency so much and he is the only powerful Christian name I find in the list of course he is not welcomed by the 14th of February and those behind them from the United States and Israel due to his Syrian-Hezbollah Support

During that last week "Aoun" made the impossible and met with "Saad El-Hariri" in Paris ,where they reached to nothing , then on Thursday the general made a proposal to the 14th of Feb. and gave them a period to accept next day , still after only one hour or even less from its announcement the 14th of Feb. refused despite it was a real comprise that would save Lebanon from the unknown

The general proposed that he would accept a president from outside his party as long as that president respects the understanding agreement with Hezbollah on the other hand "Saad El-Hariri" would accept a prime minister outside his party and both will stay only for two years as a transitional period till the next parliament elections

It is a fair deal but still the gang of the 14th of Feb. refused it , the 14th of February wants a president from its group not from the other groups and what ever proposals people will come and go with they will refuse any name that is not theirs

France at first stood with them but now I think they realized what game those people are playing especially after their refusal to the Church list.

The Lebanese people will have to wait for another week to see who will be the president .

I will stop here because it was a very long day and I need a sleep tomorrow insh Allah we will continue to speak

Thursday, November 22, 2007

On Friday I watched accidentally on the 2nd channel of the Egyptian National TV the weekly news program "News and Opinions" it has been years since the last time I saw that program , it is one of the oldest News and political program where the week's important international events are discussed deeply , of course from the Egyptian official point of view.This view they discussed the Turkish Foreign policy and its history and the Pakistani issue.

It seems that the Egyptian regime does not like what is happening in Pakistan from a semi revolution against General Masharf , they consider what happened is a result from the American Creative Chaos which says that if the Middle East is thrown into enough turmoil, the bad old authoritarian governments will break down and democratic governments will rise up out of the ashes !! Overall they dislike what is happening in Pakistan from pressure against Masharf who is facing many challenges whether from the increasing radical stream and the fact that the north of Pakistan now is under the Pakistani version of Taliban or from the liberal leaders backed up by the west and America !!!!!!!!!!!!

well surely the Egyptian regime does not like what is happening in Pakistan now , it is its worst nightmares ,people are protesting day and night against it , political leaders are gathering to down the regime and the west is no longer in the regime side. In th brief words the regime got no support what so ever except the security forces from the army and police forces.

The Egyptian regime knows very well it can't depend on the west specifically on the United States because as the Egyptian proverb says "The one who covers with it is naked" , the Americans do not support dead or dying regime that lost all kind of support or power over the people , the military security power is not enough. The American administration proved through history that it leaves those regimes to face the revolutions alone regardless of how those regimes were close allies to the States and I do not need to tell you how America had abandoned the Shah of Iran alone to face the Islamic revolution , they did not even give him refugee after all those years in their service , even after supporting him to restore his throne in the 1950s after the Mosaddeq revolution still when they knew that he was no longer accepted by his people at all ,they did not jeopardize one single moment in an attempt to help him restore his lost throne on the contrary as far as I know they started to search for new channel to the new rulers , just like in other countries. And that's what happening to Masharf who said by himself that the west abandoned him.

Again I will return to the question can the Pakistani scenario be repeated in Egypt ??

Unfortunately no , because if you compare Egypt and Pakistan , you will find an important element in the equation is missing in Egypt and available in Pakistan and that's the public figure leaders

You do not have Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif in Egypt , the lack of leadership , the people know no one except Mubarak. If any name begins to grow to become an opposition public figure ,the regime will get rid of him as soon as possible and Ayman Nour is the best example , despite Ayman Nour is not as dangerous as Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif from the experience. And this is from of the Gamal Abd El-Nasser heritage , get rid of those you think can be a threat to you whether in the army or for the public ,especially for the public. Before the revolution of 1952 unfortunately you got political public leaders and figures that can lead people and people had trusted them starting with Mustafa Kamel to Saad Zaglol to Mustafa Pasha El-Nahas to Makram Abid to Ali and Ahmed Maher to El-Nokarashi Pasha yet who do you have now ??

Mubarak is even more sensitive when it comes to competitors or even semi competitors and we all remember what happened to Amr Moses , of course I will not speak about Omar Soliman because Soliman is from the Mubarak's faithful men , he does not think in the rule as far as I get because if he were , he would not stay all that time till now , of course may be he is just repeating the Tunisian scenario after all Ali Zen Al-Abdeen was the head of the Tunisian intelligence !!

Let's see the prominent figures of Egyptian NOW

The most prominent figure of course is the Muslim brotherhood whether you like or not , still their leader or current guide "Mahadi Akhaf" in my opinion is the worst among other previous guides and many Egyptians till now remember his memorable words "Toz fi Misr" -{Screw Egypt} not to mention the controversial program of the MB party .

The leftists , they are active just like the MB and they appeared more as expected in the latest workers' protests across the country but they are in the end leftists , communists in the mind of the Egyptian average Joe

seriously I can't find other prominent figures and even those can't overthrow a regime in the same way like in Pakistan

We got a shortage in the political leaders , we do not have them anymore and people will not go to the street without having a leader or someone to gather around just like Saad Zaglol

Of course I forget to tell you that Pakistan had a democracy when we had dictatorship , regardless of the coups they suffered from still they know the meaning of democracy , the active constitutional life , the prime minister is the ruler in their country

And this is a great huge difference between a country whose constitutional life was ended in 1954 !!!

They want a new prime minister where we want a president

My dear friends it is so difficult now to have what is happening in Pakistan now simply we got Ahmed Shobeir where as they got Imran Khan !!!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

As if we are really in a desperate need for another Music Video Channel !! And it is not like any other channel it is the MTV Channel directed to the Arab world

MTV Arabia is here and on the Nile Sat ,it is not scrambled anymore , it is free to all the viewers , already the MTV Europe on Showtime Network was stopped from airing and MTV Arabia took its place.

Well for sure the MTV Corp. found the Arabia region is one hell of a golden mine especially regarding Music vide channels , yes they came late , but they came with one hell of a brand name and from a marketer's point of view their only competitors in the region are Melody Hits in my opinion because already Melody Hits Channels were made to be the MTV of the middle east , in fact I think the effect of Melody Channels in Egypt and in the Arab world was the same effect MTV made when it started to air in 1970s , a shock to the society till became a very strong brand. Already believe it or not Gamal Marwan proposed to buy a franchise of MTV in the beginning as I read but they refused , they thought the Arab youth are not cool enough may be and SO Marwan along with Amr Diab , Naguib Sawiris "before their quarrel and lawsuits" and Nasif Kazman made their Melody Empire and destroyed the minds of the Arab youth from the Gulf to the Ocean !!! Of course after the huge rush of the Music video channels afterwards MTV regretted their decision ,still I think those people do not regret so much they started to act immediately it is never too late !!

It is not a sole MTV ownership , it is a partnership with a gulf media company in Dubai.

The channel will present 80% of western music and 20% Arabic music with less nudity than the original MTV Channels, well judging MTV Europe "I did not see the MTV America" Melody Hits presents more nudity. Of course I do not know if they are going to represent their silly Reality Shows here or not .

Another thing why I chose Melody Hits the primary channel as their competitor , well because they also present western music the percentage is 50%-50% this time. We also should not forget that Melody was the organizer of the top A-List music events in Egypt . Rotana is only Arabic music channel, Mazika despite the western songs in it , its only competitor , direct competitor is Rotana due to the rivalry of the two mother company in the Music business

I do not know as if we need another Music channel and it is not like any channel for God Sake it is the MTV !! I will not speak about the effect of the MTV in America because it is well known and that's what scares me especially the empty heads youngsters percentage are increasing rapidly from the gulf to the Ocean.

How many are the music channels on the Nile Sat ,the Number one Satellite in the Arab world ?? The Nile Sat seems to me to have only Music channels , Religious channels and Iraqi channels !!

I guess the religious Channels are the nature respond on the Music channels and both by the way are radical , the famous Newton's law for every action there is reverse reaction equal in everything , the Iraqi channels ,well for everything single sect and tribe in Iraq there is channel .

I Wonder why this gulf company instead of having the MTV in the middle east , did not bring the Discovery or the National geography channels in Arabic instead?? "My greatest dream ever :)"

till now it is not officially broadcasting ,it is just testing but if it starts airing officially and makes a huge success I think Marwan will begin one hell of a war against them

I have not watched the MTV Arabia yet I want to know to which social class it will speak to it , if they target the A Class in the Arab world , they would be fool because this class already does not like to communicated with in Arabic but in English and already they do not watch Arabic channel but western Channels

I do not like the website of MTV Arabia by the way and also My favourite MTV Channel or a channel that is owned by MTV is VH1 Europe because it airs oldies , for God Sake I saw a performance for the Eagles on Stage singing their masterpiece "Hotel California" back to the 1970s !!??

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

I do not know what technological and scientific advance this regime is speaking about when it jails some of the best university professors in Egypt and send them to stand in front of the a military court !!

I am speaking of those honourable men standing currently in front of a military court ,whose only guilt is their belonging to the Muslim brotherhood

By the way I heard that these men are separating between their academic life and their political life

I found this in Hatshepsut's blog and I thought it is worth to be spread online "Click on them please for a better view"

You may agree or disagree with what the MB believe in and think but if you believe in democracy and freedom than you must agree those men ,especially those men should not stay for another second in jail , their place is not in jail , it is not in military court ,it is the in university class rooms

By the way the medical conditions of some of those honourable men are not good at ,they could die in jail from implications

Do you remember the Sotheby's auction I spoke about from couple of weeks ago where they were going to sell very important historical Egyptian Stuff ?? If you do not remember I recommend that do some refreshment and click here then click back in your browser to come to this post again as in it you will know for how much these valuable stuff were sold , at what price exactly

I could not know who bought them because this is confidential in the Sotheby's website

The hammer Price which is The highest bid which is accepted by the auctioneer with's buyer's premium which is An amount (usually a percentage) that is added to the winning bid (hammer price) to determine the contract selling price which the buyer pays for the property being sold for them was as follows

Well this is less than the initial estimated starting price which was estimated by Sotheby's at 25,000 GBP

The Muhammad Abdo's lot no.116 was sold at hammer prince with buyer's premium : 14,900 GBP

It is better than the Hasseinein's lot as it was sold more than the initial estimated price which was 12,000 GBP

The Abu Nadra's lot no. 117 was not sold !!!

Its estimated price was 10,000—15,000 GBP

Look I expected these stuff to bring more cash but it did not simply because it was sold originally sold for people who do not know its value like us , we the Egyptians know how it is worth

Foreigners do not know as we know Muhammad Abdo or Ahmed Hasseinein or Abu Nadra, and how they contributed to this nation, to its history , its present and even its future with what they did and presented

If I were from the officials in the Alexandria Bibliotheque I would go and bid on the Abu Nadra's lot ,at least try to save what it can be saved from our lost heritage !!

Monday, November 19, 2007

When I was a little kid my favourite two muppet shows were the American The Muppet Show and "Bogy and Tamtam"

Of course you know the "Muppet Show" but you do not know "Bogy" and "Tamtam" , Bogy for certainty was not Humphrey Bogart , In late 1970s till mid 1990s "Bogy and Tamtam" was the favourite children show for the Egyptian and the Arabic children

Bogy was the clumsy and Tamtam was the smart , of course they had lots of friends like Ziko,Zika and ZeeZee with her terrible auntie Shafika, Bogy and Tamtam had a little sister called Taamtim "Tomato in Arabic" I loved her so much

Last week the actor who used to lend his childish cheerful voice to "Bogy" had passed away after a severe illness

That actor was Yunus Shelby and he was a famous Comedian , his famous started in the unforgotten role in the "School of Naughty's" the Egyptian Comic version from "To My sir with Love" as Mansour the clumsy son of the principle

May Allah bless his soul and give patience to his family and lovers , already he will be always with us , we will remember him with his cheerful childish voice

Of course now in the time of Globalizations Bogy and Tamtam were replaced by Sesame world :(

Some leaders ,if not all of them pay the price of their own decisions ,especially those who are dictators , who do not listen to anyone and do not know the meaning of democracy , who consider their people only as supportive masses that only say their names in pre-organized supporting protests "We sacrifice you with blood and soul" ,those leaders from kings and presidents always make stupid mistakes and take wrong decisions and here I do not mean their decisions that are always against the people and the country , but I mean their own decisions that end their own time , that destroy them. You see some times those leaders take decisions ignoring its results and consequences that may harm their positions as leaders in the country or even in the world paving the road to their own end

Sometimes signing these decisions is just like signing's one death certificate. It is the trap of dictators for sure especially if they do not listen to their advisors and they do not put their people's anger in their consideration , well re-reading what I have written ,I would say that this is how all dictators act.

These stupid decisions they think the people will accept just like the previous decisions , they believe that as long as the people are passive and quiet fearing from the security forces there is no fear from them , not realizing that there is some point ,there is some time people will not accept to take it anymore ,they have enough and ready to rebel against these dictators , it is just like an accumulated process where you fill a jar till the lid and you insist on filling it till it floods.

Most of these stupid decisions are economic ones , economy that affect people's earnings mainly their daily living from what they eat especially if they already live in a very bad economic situation and many sectors of the society are already living under the poverty line , these economic decisions can be the last straw that will move the hunger revolution which by its turn an introduction to even greater social revolution

Why do dictators make these silly mistakes and why can't they predict the people's reaction ?? As I said they do not put the people in their consideration , they consider them like the dead , you must know dictators usually are isolated from the people and usually thanks to the hypocrite entourage surrounding them they are given another completely different image about the people and their conditions, the rosy image that would please any ruler.

Another important question why I started the post with all that theoretical talk , well first this is not a theoretical talk only , it happened through out history dictators always make decisions that cost them their thrones and sometimes their lives , in the politics category you got already a living example in Pakistan , in the military category you got the Saddam's decisions to invade Kuwait and in the economy category you got the famous Mikhail Gorbachev 's Perestroika and Glasnot which brought down the Soviet Union and made it from history "may be the man is not dictator but was a member in a dictatorship regime" ,the examples are many but I can't remember them all ,those came only in my mind

Second I wrote this long introduction to give you idea in advance of what I am going to say , I am sorry if you do not like it but this how I am expressing my thoughts

Now back to the real World to the land of the pharaohs

For two days now the official and opposition newspapers are circulating news saying that Mubarak is in the process to give his order to his prime minister "Ahmed Nazif" to start cancelling the governmental subsidies of the basic commodities in Egypt

This decision or intention is taken right after the visit of the world bank Chief Robert Zoellick last week and his meeting with President Mubarak as his first visit to Cairo where he stated the international organization is going to aid Egypt in its economic reform"strangely till now we did not complete our economic reform since 1975 open door policy" !!

Some estimation says it is about 50 million E.P "yes I know it is huge number but wait till you read the rest of the facts"

III-What is the percentage of people in Egypt who are living under 2$ per day according to the UN ??

43.9%

IV-What is the percentage of people in Egypt who are living under 1$ per day according to the UN ??

3%

V- What is the percentage of people in Egypt who are living under the national poverty line according to the UN??

20% already it increased 4% from 2005 "16%" and this is considered a rapid increase in 2 years period

As you see the people who need governmental subsidies are increasing not decreasing and even these percentages some say that it is even higher ,if we are including all the country side especially the upper Egypt ,where we will get even higher numbers

Of course I did not mention other economical indicators like the unemployment rate which is increasing and the inflation rate which returned to increase again in 2007 and so on

Yes it is a burden but we need it, according to the State's budget the Subsidies are equal to 50 million E.P still according to the same government's research these 50 millions are spent on the subsidies but on other stuff for example the fancy cars of the ministers their unneeded expenditures..etc

I know that the world bank wants to help Egypt and I will not suspect their intention to aid Egypt but they will be fooling themselves if they think that there will be an economic reform in Egypt without an equivalent political reform , the world banks knows very well there is no hope as long as this corrupted regime exists , we will be fooling ourselves if we say otherwise

Just for your information the reduction of governmental subsidies started for some time , in a gradually reduction the people did not feel it yet they began to feel the reduction during the Nazif cabinet when they began to reduce it more rapidly and at the same time they started to raise the prices for example like the bread and fuel despite the experts warning that this could lead to a hunger revolution ,and already we experienced this from 20 years ago in what President Sadaat stupidly described as the Intifida of the thieves !!! The famous protests of 1977 had happened because people in day and night found the prices were raised , of course if you read the numbers and prices then ,you will laugh , they were nothing . People were mad because one kilo of meat reached to 1 E.P as a price where as today the cheapest kind of meat is not less than 35 E.P per Kilo in Fayoum not in Cairo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From the size of the anger in 1977 experts are warning for even larger and more angrier masses if the prices are raised

Already I do not know how you raise prices without an equal raise in Salary !!!?? The Salary raise they announced from couple of days is not enough

Strangely Mubarak is making the opposite of what his son JR had

promised in the annual convention of NDP from two weeks ago where he appeared as the Savior of the working low classes promising that no one will touch the Subsidies !!!!!!!!!!!

Of course the orders of the world bank are much more important than broken promises .

seriously if Mubarak reduces the subsidies and raises the prices of the basic commodities then he will open on himself the gates of hell , people will not take it anymore , it will be his stupid decision , his signature on a revolution document against his own self !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!